Fuel distributor. could this be my problem?

[Mike Kast]

I think I found a broken line. Its a mystery to me how I could have stood over the engine for a day and a half and not seen this. My stupidity never fails to amaze me...
Forgive me I'm just a monkey!

[RoninLB]

[Vipergrün]

Hard to tell from the pic, but it looks like you may just have a loose banjo fitting, have you tried to tighten it? Looks like the line is intact, but the outer rubber sheathing it coming off???

[Mike Kast]

You guys are right. I just checked and the lines are good. I don't think that will have been preventing my car from running but I'm off to try and tighten... BRB

[island911]

There are a lot of hoses on the underside & backside of the CIS (looking at it from the engine bay). If your engine runs only at WOT (wide open throttle) then one of those big hoses likely got blown off, or split. . . .causing a vacuum leak that only lot's of fuel will compensate for. KEEP LOOKING

[Mike Kast]

Thanks guys,
My goodness! Do I really have all that in my car! The banjo bolt was loose. I'm afraid the larger connection next to it may be too. I haven't been able to check it though. It seemed to have more fuel under it. Should I also be looking under the car for vacume leaks? I agree with the vacume leak Island. It starts up normally though. Then stalls. And when it starts it sounds like all cylinders are normal, everything sounds great for about 2 seconds.
I have another hour to play and then I'm off to the airport to pick up my Ex wife and daughter. Am I a great ex husband or what! Shoot me now... PLEASE!

[island911]

heh-heh. . .Hang in there Mike. Keep in mind that (on starting when cold) a whole bunch of extra fuel is being shot in the intake. This fuel is what the engine will run on, for a few seconds.

Then, what's hppening is the air/fuel metering has to deliver the right amount fuel for the amount of air going in to the engine. BUT, if a bunch of air is sneaking past the the meter, then not enough fuel is being delivered.

Usually it's just a hose or something simple.

Those hoses to the backside are a pain to get to. A trick is to just pinch them off, to help the isolation of where the leaks could be coming from.

Anyway, keep looking for loose or cracked pieces on anything down-stream of the air-flow sensor. You may want to take off the rubber boot at the top of the CIS (also more of a pain than it should be) just so you can check the hoses behind it.

[Mike Kast]

I'll do it Island! But while I found this fuel leak thing... How do I tighten the connections without twisting the lines? I can't get a hold of them. Anyone have a trick? My back hurts...

[island911]

you should be able to hold the line enough to tighten the fitting. They have copper or aluminum "washers" that get squished to provide a seal . . .meaning, it doesn't need to be torqued all that much. (I don't know what the book says for tourque)

re; your back. . .have your ex' give you a massage.

[ruf-porsche]

Hey Mike

That loose banjo fitting could be the problem Remember one of the item that was listed in the bentley manual

Fuel pressure incorrect
control pressure regulagtor faulty

A leaky line will cause the fuel pressure to drop. Tighten up the line and try starting it before looking for vacuum leaks. Consider yourself lucky that your car didn't catch on fire. Had several of my Lotus catch on fire due to leaking fuel. Only one was total.

[Mike Kast]

Gentlemen! Has anyone had to tighten the connection to the left of the banjo on the back of the fuel distributor? It has a stub going straight down and if I turn to tighten the stub goes with it twisting the fuel line to a kink in the process. I tried to see if I could hold the stub from moving with the fitting but it doesn't seem to be independent. There is another brass nut closer to the distributor on the same fitting. I'm thinking that is what I need to turn while holing the nut with the stub vertical. But I'm not sure. I know the fitting is very loose. I would have tried that but I can't seem to fit anything back there. I don't think I could get in there without removing the distributor.
Any experience? Or am I all alone in the world here?

[Mike Kast]

Maybe could I remove the line and go a full turn and reconnect the line? How are the lines fitted to the metal?

[stormcrow]

On the fuel distributor, you have one line which is the return line to the fuel tank and the other line is the fuel supply for the fuel distributor. Both lines have banjo fittings on them so they shouldn't turn when you tighten the nut. Could be they are seized.

Remove the rubber boot between the air box and throttle body which should give you enough room to work.

Steve

"A Porsche does more then just go fast in a straight line"

[Mike Kast]

I wouldn't argue too much because I am so inexperienced but I have had a flashlight and a mirror studying the back of the distributor for most of the night. They aren't the same type of fitting. It could be that someone switched it out. I don't know? I could try another picture. The banjo fitting was pretty easy to tighten and keep the line from turning. This one is in a tougher spot with a 17mm instead of a 12mm like the banjo. I got some stubby wrenches on the way home tonight figuring I was in for some more back pain. But this on is a tight fit!
I hope it is seized. I'll spay some wd40 on there and see if I can move the two independently. I am no mechanical genius but its hard for me to believe there not supposed to move separately

[Mike Kast]

looky here

Not a bad shot thi time

[RoninLB]

Originally posted by Mike Kast

looky here.Not a bad shot thi time

that's pretty good.. better than a 12 ga, LOL..........Ron

[Mike Kast]

If it is siezed it will sleep that way. I couldn't budge it.

[scarebus]

Mike,
You've done right so far. Beside the 12mm banjo fitting,
there are two 17mm fittings that go to the back of fuel dist.
They are both 'B' nuts. Just make sure they are tight. They
both have tapered flange to seal themselves. But the 12mm
banjo, the two copper washers on both ends of banjo make
the sealing, so don't over tighten it.

[ruf-porsche]

Hey Mike

I’ve been thinking about your Porsche problem of the start great but stall great afterward. These are my conclusion.

1. You do not have a cold start problem. The fact that it starts indicates no problem. I think the reason it doesn’t start right away, but sputter and pop if you try to start it immediately, is because the cold start valve which give that extra shot of fuel into the manifold is not available for the restart, the thermo-time switch has cut out the cold start valve. If you wait about 10 minutes, the thermo-time switch has cool enough to allow another try.

2. The leaky banjo bolt is probably the prime candidate for the stall great. Since the pressure in the fuel lines that lead to the injectors is reduced, the engine does not have enough fuel to continue to run. I think when you first experience this problem, the banjo bolt hasn’t back up enough to really affect the running of the engine, the idle went down, but it came back up. After you drove around, now that the banjo bolt was loose, the vibration from the engine continue to back out the bolt even more to the point that the engine stalls.

Hope this help. Just my $.02

[Mike Kast]

I hope this fitting is the problem. It was more than just the banjo bolt too. The one next to it is actually much looser but I still can't figure out how to tighten it without chinking the line. I think it must be frozen. I'm going to eat some dinner and see if I can't remove that line from the distributor so I can pull it to the front of the motor and examine it better. I haven't gotten any feedback about how that fitting works. Maybe it such a stupid question everyone is reading past it. But that's where I am stuck.